Judge declines dismissal of wrongful death lawsuits in theater shootings

Denver, Colorado – A judge ruled Wednesday that wrongful death lawsuits and other claims against the owner of a Colorado movie theater where a gunman opened fire last year could proceed. As reported by the Associated Press (AP), Judge R. Brooke Johnson declined to grant a dismissal of lawsuits brought against Cinemark USA resulting from a mass shooting July 20 in which 12 people were killed and many others injured.

Cinemark filed a motion for the dismissal of the suit in February, citing the claims did not demonstrate the company’s liability under the Colorado Premises Liability Act. Separate claims of negligence in the shootings were dismissed by the judge.

Christina Habas, an attorney for three plaintiffs wounded in the shooting, is quoted by the AP as stating of the judge’s decision, “The landowner must guard against dangerous conditions on their property, and in this case the shooter is not the dangerous condition…The dangerous condition is an unlocked and unmonitored exit door.”